US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2022
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2022, at 718,289. Alaska had the lowest, at 14,667. The median was 70,912 and the figure for the United States was 5.54 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest718,289California

Lowest14,667Alaska

Median70,91251 states

United States5,541,603History

All states, 2022

CSV Chart (SVG)

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-10.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	California	718,289	+5%
2	Florida	445,440	+3%
3	Texas	438,100	+3.4%
4	New York	398,971	+3.4%
5	Illinois	222,586	+1.7%
6	Pennsylvania	210,907	+2.5%
7	Georgia	175,445	+2.1%
8	New Jersey	173,772	+3.2%
9	North Carolina	173,080	+3%
10	Ohio	167,160	+1.3%
11	Michigan	154,206	+2.4%
12	Virginia	143,142	+1.8%
13	Washington	142,271	+2.3%
14	Massachusetts	129,866	+3.2%
15	Colorado	127,773	+1.6%
16	Arizona	105,880	+3.3%
17	Missouri	104,621	+0.4%
18	Minnesota	103,681	+0.9%
19	Indiana	101,669	+1.8%
20	Maryland	100,104	+2%
21	Wisconsin	98,004	+1%
22	Tennessee	96,419	+2%
23	Oregon	88,251	+2.7%
24	South Carolina	82,126	+3%
25	Louisiana	74,791	+1.2%
26	Alabama	70,912	+1.8%
27	Oklahoma	66,480	+0.7%
28	Utah	66,282	+3.6%
29	Connecticut	63,214	+1.9%
30	Kentucky	61,296	+1.5%
31	Iowa	56,530	+0.4%
32	Nevada	52,610	+5%
33	Kansas	52,470	+0.8%
34	Arkansas	47,291	+1.1%
35	Mississippi	41,254	+0.7%
36	Idaho	40,926	+4%
37	Nebraska	39,873	+0.9%
38	New Mexico	31,159	+2.3%
39	Maine	30,471	+2%
40	Montana	30,309	+2.4%
41	New Hampshire	28,548	+2.4%
42	West Virginia	23,447	+1.3%
43	Hawaii	22,986	+3.9%
44	Rhode Island	22,141	+3.6%
45	South Dakota	20,851	+2.2%
46	Delaware	20,235	+3.1%
47	North Dakota	17,717	+0.7%
48	District of Columbia	17,307	+2.8%
49	Wyoming	16,887	+2.2%
50	Vermont	15,760	+2.9%
51	Alaska	14,667	+1.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of firms in the private nonfarm sectors covered by the US Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics. Establishments under common ownership form one firm.

Excludes nonemployer businesses and other activities outside the BDS scope. A firm operating in several states or counties is counted in each area, so geographic counts cannot be added to reproduce the national total. This differs from the INE DIRCE active-company count, which includes businesses without employees. Past values can be revised.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-10.

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Questions

Which state has the highest employer firms?

California, with 718,289 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 14,667 in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. Retrieved 2026-10-10.